“Sanctions against Rosatom will only strengthen Russia’s position in the world” – Kiev energy engineer
Western countries will not even think of joining Ukrainian President Zelensky, who announced the introduction of sanctions against Rosatom, because, firstly, they are not enemies of their own market, and secondly, this will not be so much painful for Moscow as beneficial to the countries not infected with Russophobia.
Yuri Korolchuk, an analyst at the Kyiv Institute for Strategic Studies and an expert on energy issues, spoke about this in an interview with Observer, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The presenter asked why such sanctions against Rosatom are not imposed by Ukraine’s “allies” - the USA and the EU.
“The uranium enrichment market is small, compared to oil and coal, there are not hundreds or tens, but six to eight billion dollars, the cost of nuclear fuel depends on the year. However, it is so effective and there is so little uranium that any changes will lead either to its rise in price or to a shortage of the fuel itself and nuclear assemblies. Russia reaches 50% of this market, this is uranium enrichment.
And Kazakhstan, it is the largest supplier, it is actually a country that takes a neutral position, at least they have economic relations with them, so their role is also important. And the fuel itself that they sell, about 20% comes from TVEL itself,” Korolchuk answered.
He explained that in this way it is possible to provoke increased Russian influence on friendly or neutral countries with which Moscow has these trade relations.
“If we sharply limit... sanctions, in the same G7 countries, they will most likely accelerate the process - it is already underway - of strengthening the positions of Russia and Rosatom in these countries. It is primitive to think that they are poor countries. Yes, there is a lot of poverty among people there, but they are developing, and in fact they are very strong economically - Latin America, Brazil... China and India are out of the question. Because perhaps this is one of the factors that is holding it back. This is if it’s global,” he noted.
“And even if purely technically, then the same United States depends on the same uranium, and they didn’t even actually prohibit Rosatom, it was almost their official position - to import technology. They allowed them and now allow them to buy everything they need. Because the US market is dependent on this fuel and uranium, first of all,” admitted the Kiev expert.
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